I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 38 : The Government and Scotland Yard

Mycroft seized the newspaper his PA was handling to him, not believing what she had just told him. Incredulously he took a look at the front page, spotting the rather bad picture of him and Gregory took with a telephoto lens and the title flaunted in capital letter :"When the government sleep with Scotland Yard.".
It was five and a half in the morning and Anthea just had had her hand on one of the first copy of the Daily Mail available. The official sat down in his armchair of his Diogene Club's office, shocked and still not believing what was actually happening. For one of the first time since she was at the auburn's service's, Anthea looked like if she was affected by what was going on, believing that if there was a lot of things on which it was possible and relevant to attack Mycroft Holmes, from his, and his colleagues, uses of the special forces and secrets services, to the fact he was using the state power to spy on his own brother, this irrelevant attack over his private life was unacceptable.
After a few minutes of reading and rereading the complete article, still looking astounded and furious, the auburn looked up to his PA, repressing his will to crumple and burn the paper. "Anthea, can you go to my house and bring back Gregory please ? I don't want him to learn that by someone else.". The young woman nodded, not able to expressed how she felt about what was happening. In the 8 years she had worked for him, she had grown some sort of affection for her boss and she knew that despite the fact he was trying to pretend to be professional, this story was affecting him greatly and she wished she could have done something to help him.
Mycroft had his look fixed on the picture on the newspaper cover on his desk, his hands crossed in front of his mouth in a prayer-like gesture, deep into his thoughts. Something like that was to happen one day he reckoned, but the problem wasn't even that an article actually had been published, it was all the false informations enclosed in it and all the falsehoods that it was spreading that really worried the official. Of course, the auburn wasn't happy to see his head, and especially his bad profile, printed on the front page of a tabloid, neither was he really happy that the news of his romance with Greg had been made fully public, not that he was ashamed or willing to keep it completely secret, but he was more or less happy with having the privacy he had had until now. He was even more scared for his partner's career than for his own. He always had made his way through the different scandals that had happened since he was in the shadow of the Cabinet Office, even when it came directly to him, his function being obscure enough and him being valuable enough to the government always to have his skin saved with, at worst, a lecture by an assembly of angry MPs or a roast by the Minister for the Cabinet Office. But the influence of such allegations on the Detective Inspector's career could be much more dreadful as he was absolutely subject to his hierarchy that would probably not really appreciate this kind of publicity and could take revenge on him by putting him in the corner for the rest of his time in the forces, if not to find a way of kicking him out, and Mycroft was determined not to let this happen.

"Toc, toc". Greg was having an unpleasant dream in which he was a carpenter locking himself in a house by nailing the only door that leaded to the outside. "Toc, toc". He suddenly awoken, noticing that the sound he was hearing since a little while wasn't him tacking anything but someone knocking at the door. He turned to the alarm clock on his bedside table. 6:03AM. Who could possibly knock on the door at this time in the morning. It couldn't be the auburn, he wouldn't have embarrassed himself and he was still sleeping thought the yarder, before turning to the other side of the bed, suddenly realising that someone was missing by his side and that the room was surprisingly silent, except the knocking on the door that was still going on. Covering himself with one of his boyfriend's nightgown that was laying on the end of the bed, the detective stood up and approached the door at the moment the person behind it was knocking again.
"What's going on damn ..." he said, yawning hugely and rubbing his eyes with his hand while opening the said door, revealing a rather worried Anthea.
"I'm sorry for awaking you Gregory but Mr Holmes would like you to join him as soon as possible." she explained, trying not to look like if she was even slightly embarrassed by the presence of the half-naked man in front of her.
"What for ?" wondered the inspector, closing tightly the nightgown.
"He would like to advise you himself. I'm sorry again for awoking you." apologized the young woman.
"Right. Give me five minutes to dress up." he accepted before closing the door again. If Mycroft wished to see him in person, it was certainly nothing of a good news or he would just have called him or waited until he was back home in the evening thought the policeman while grabbing a pair of jeans and a black jumper. Without taking time to brush his teeth or his grey hair, he joined the PA in the corridor and exited the house, grabbing a pair of trainers and his coat in the corridor while passing by.
Wondering what could possibly be happening, Greg took place in the black Jaguar and he was still deep in his mind when they arrived at the Diogene Club a few minutes later. The detective had never penetrated in the building, not having a membership in this place, and despite the quite odd situation, he couldn't helped himself of admiring the decoration of the different empty rooms Anthea led him through to his partner's office. She knocked on the door before introducing the man in.
"Myc', what's happening ?" wondered the yarder, looking really worried and lost at the same time.
"Gregory ... You shall sit down." recommanded the auburn before handling his lover the newspaper. During a few minutes, the office was filled with silence, only interrupted by the discreet noise of the paper crushing in the DI's hands. Then, slowly, the latter looked up to his husband, looking confused and affected by what he just had read. The official stood up and got around his desk to the seat where the other man was settled, resting his hand around his neck tenderly in a protective gesture.
"What's going to happen ?" finally asked the cop after a few more seconds of silence.
"I don't know darling." replied the other one, his voice betraying clearly his nervousness and concern about this business. "I suppose the MPs will like to know if what the Daily stupid Mail is saying is true and that I'm going to be summoned for a hearing before noon but if I have no doubt I'll get myself out of trouble with the different committees I can beask to face, in fact I've got all the proofs I need to deny what those rubbishes have written down, I have absolutely no idea how to handle the public ...".
For the first time since he knew him, Greg could saw that his partner was not in control of what was happening and that it was making him panic slightly. Despite the fact that he wasn't exactly feeling better than him, the detective grabbed the other man's hand and placed a long and soft kiss on top ofit.
"I'll do everything I can to protect you from those scum, Greg, I swear it." the official whispered to his lover's ear. "I'll give all I have for you ..."
"I know honey. I'll trust you with my life." replied the yarder in a low voice, narrowing his hold on the thin and pale hand he was holding.

A few minutes later Anthea brought some tea and sat with them, awaiting to know what was going to happen, his eyes fixed on her phone from where, she believed, the news was going to come from. The office hadn't got any windows but outside the dawn was already rising and the paper was displayed all over the news-stand across the country. At seven and a half, Greg raised to his feet and picked up his coat, ready to leave.
"What are you doing ?" wondered the official.
"It's seven thirty, I don't want to be late."replied the other one like if it was an evidence.
"I don't think you should go to work today Gregory." advised the elder Holmes.
"Why? I'm not going to put my life on hold because of a stupid newspaper !" erupted the detective, already on the verge because of the tension that had been running in the room since more than anhour.
"It's not the question. I'm not asking you to hide or anything. I just think we shall try to sort that out before doing anything else." explained Mycroft, trying to remain calm even if him too was repressing his will to yell at the top of his voice.
"And what am I suppose to do ? Sit there doing nothing until your super brain find a fucking solution that's it ? What can I do ? Give me a task, tell me how I can help !" lathered the policeman
"Sorry if that's not what you were expecting of me but I have nothing best to offer ! But go on, go to the Yard and don't complain if you get roasted as soon as you put a toe in the building !" outbursted the auburn. "I'm trying to sort things out, to reduce the impact of what is happening but if you want to ruin everything please, help yourself !"
"Me ? It's me who is ruining everything ? Is it me who've written this article ? Is it me ? I'm just trying to do my job!" bawled Greg, looking absolutely furious.
Anthea suddenly raised to her feet and stood between the two men. "Calm down !"she ordered, her voice strong and clear. "That's the last thing we need. Sorry Mr Lestrade, but I think that Mr Holmes is right, going to Scotland Yard alone like this before this story has been dealt with would be dangerous for you and not helping to sort it out.Mycroft, I think it's time we stopped waiting and we start acting, nobody won a war by waiting to see how the enemy is going to act, I thought you knew that.". It was not in her habits to talk like this to her boss, but she knew it was probably one of the few ways to make the two men come back to their mind.
Both of the men sat down, still looking rather angry but realizing that they had had a childish behaving and that they should better focus on finding a solution to this situation better than going into an unnecessary fight.

Hey, hope you like this chapter guys. As you can see it's not finished, and actually, this story gonna spread over 3 chapters ... -yes I like teasing a little, if only I could have a drum for the dramatic effect it would be perfect...-

And again huge thanks to Amy for helping me out with this xxx